Page 55 of Heartless Prince

Somewhere along the line, my obsessive hatred for her began to twist into lust and dark desire. As much as I couldn’t stand the girl, I had to admit she was a stunner. Slim yet curvy figure, pretty features, mesmerizing blue eyes, shiny chestnut hair that fell down her back in waves.

I hated her, but I fucking wanted her. She was a thorn in my side, haunting me with every step I took. I couldn’t stop thinking about her. Couldn’t move past her.

I could only think of one way to properly deal with my obsession, and that was to take her and force her into submission. Make her admit what she’d done. Make her beg for her life, beg for my forgiveness. At the same time, I could release all that pent-up sexual frustration I felt whenever I looked at her.

Luckily, my father had the exact same thought process long before me. He anticipated how I would end up feeling about her, so right after she was acquitted of any wrongdoing, he approached her and her parents (without revealing his relation to the Wellingtons). He’d looked into the Marris family, and he’d seen they were struggling financially. Now they also had the stress of Tatum’s legal drama to add to it all. They weren’t far from crumbling.

He told them that he had a way to end all their financial troubles. He also delicately insinuated that he knew the truth about what Tatum did, and that selling herself into Crown and Dagger’s service might be a good way to alleviate any guilt she might feel. He made it sound like it would be penance for her, a way to wipe the slate clean.

It didn’t take long to convince her. Her parents desperately needed the money, and she desperately needed to ease her conscience. This was an opportunity to pay her parents back for all the trouble she’d caused, and also a way to punish herself for what she’d done.

What she didn’t know when she signed the contract was that she’d be given directly to me, Ben’s best friend, and that I would be her worst nightmare.

She stirred in her sleep, then rubbed her eyes and sat up. “When did I get here?” she asked in a low voice.

“A few minutes ago. You fell asleep,” I said icily. My eyes fell on the ugly pink welts criss-crossing her bare skin. “Get up.”

She did as I said, standing on shaky legs.

“Kneel and bow your head.”

She bit her lip, then knelt down before me, leaning her head forward and down so that her back was exposed.

“Stay.”

I stepped out of her cell and headed back upstairs. I didn’t tell her where I was going; didn’t even tell her if I was coming back. For all she knew, she would have to remain on the floor all night.

I went into the medical wing of the Finishing School and rummaged through a drawer, searching for some medicated cream. When I found it, I returned to Tatum’s cell to find her exactly where I left her.

“Good girl,” I muttered. I leaned down and began to rub the cool cream over the welts on her back. Even though I didn’t make her bleed, I still wanted to make sure she was okay.

It wasn’t because I cared about her. I just wanted to take care of my property, ensure she didn’t get some sort of infection which might deform her appearance. I didn’t want a broken toy.

I commanded her to get up so I could rub the cream on her tits and stomach. She did as I said immediately, her head still bowed slightly. “Thank you,” she murmured. “It feels much better now.”

My lips tightened. I couldn’t tell if she was actually forgetting to call me Master when she addressed me, or if it was some purposeful mini-rebellion. Some way of letting me know she still didn’t believe she belonged to me, no matter what I did to her. No matter how much I tried to break her.

I thought about punishing her for it, but there was no point. She’d had enough tonight, so it wouldn’t achieve anything. Besides, it was probably an innocent mistake. She’d called me Master earlier, while I was punishing her with the whip.

“Did you mean what you said, Doll?” I asked sharply.

She looked up at me through puffy, red-rimmed eyes. “When?”

“In the playroom, when you said you deserve to be punished.”

She chewed her bottom lip for a second before replying. “Yes.”

“Why?”

“I’ve done bad things,” she murmured. “It makes me feel good to be punished for them.”

“I want to hear you say the exact words. I want you to tell me you murdered Ben and lied about the whole thing.”

She shook her head. “I… I can’t. I know it’s my fault he died, but I swear, I didn’t mean to make it happen. I didn’t push him. Please, you have to believe me, M-Master…”

I stiffened, my eyes narrowing. Just when I thought I’d made some progress with her, we were back at square one. She was still lying right to my fucking face.

How dare she?

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